Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1405910
C h r i s t o p h e r Spitzmiller — master ceramist by vocation and gentleman farmer by avocation — charms as much in person as he does in his recently published delight, A Year at Clove Brook Farm. During his Texas Design Week Houston salon talk and book signing, hosted by Ruth and Neill Davis at Found, he recounted the 15-year endeavor to transform a derelict 1830s dairy farm in Millbrook into a showplace, as well as his relationship with farm-neighbor Martha Stewart. "I put my heart and soul into it, and I did it as I could afford to do it," Spitzmiller candidly shared about the reclaiming of Clove Brook. "I took it on in parts — new windows, painting the exterior, new heating and cooling — I was spending vast amounts of money." Luckily, his lamps and tableware are so successful that it allows for the continuing refinement of the five-acre farm. "I like to think that we make jewelry for your living room or your bedroom, accents like some really good Verdura earrings," Spitzmiller says of his exquisite lamps. BFF with Martha "It's our love of chickens and peacocks and now geese and gardening that bind that friendship," he shared. "So, every year, we load up the car and drive up to the congressional poultry show and fight over the best chickens." At the beginning of the COVID shutdowns, Stewart gifted Spitzmiller with eight geese eggs. "Then the geese hatched, and they were so cute, and I held them every night, and I held them every day, and then I gave them names like Carolyne Roehm, Bill Blass, Clare Potter and Joan Rivers — who turned out to be a gander." A sold-out entourage of interior designers, and fans of Spitzmiller's richly glazed lamps and tabletop collections, gathered, including Spitzmiller's stepmother, who lives in Houston, Olive Hershey, as well as Jane Wood, Phoebe Tudor, Mia Smith, Callie Baker, Emmy Davis, Krista Stelling, Karen Sachar, Julie Kinzelman, Anne Ramsey, Sara Dodd, John Cone, Greg Fourticq, Lisa Fred, Meredith Vecker, Julie Durkee, and Sir Mark Haukohl. Thank you to our sponsors: Found, New Orleans Auction Galleries, Monogram, Porcelanosa, The Shade Store, Alto, K&N Sales, and Swiggard Creative. CHARMS CHRISTOPHER SPITZMILLER By Shelby Hodge. Photography Johnny Than. Christopher Spitzmiller Olive Hershey Sir Mark Haukohl Phoebe Tudor, Mia Smith Teresa Jackson, Melinda Cuebas Marjorie Partin Stacy Schliewe, Julie Durkee Colleen Waguespack Lisa Fred, Sara Dodd Yesely Love, Lauren Wills Catherine Powell Imogen Lopez John Cone, Greg Fourticq Ruth & Neill Davis Jane Wood Karen Pulaski 108